Newcomers into the lead

Phil Robertson and new Tour Card Holder Pierre-Antoine Morvan made the most of a difficult first day’s racing at Match Race Germany in Langenargen, posting three wins from three.

Morvan joins the Tour in 2012 with an ISAF World Match Race Ranking of 3rd and a previous 2nd place finish at the St. Moritz Match Race in 2011. He is also being accompanied by experienced coach Bertrand Pacé, who said prior to today’s sailing:

“We’ve just started working together so we are still settling into this relationship. We’ll judge how well it is working after the first couple of events and decide whether it’s something we want to pursue for the full season.

“Pierre is a great skipper and match racer, that’s for sure. However, experience is very important as is confidence which is what we are focusing on most.”

Morvan showed few nerves coming into his first event as Tour Card Holder, even before heading out onto the water, saying: “The plan is to learn this year, podium next year, and win in two years.” He backed up that self-confidence by taking victory in all three of his early flights.

Jan-Eike Andresen (GER) is here flying the flag for the host nation but has left himself with an upward climb to reach the quarter-finals after losing three from three. A tough opening session against three Tour Card Holders, including 4-time World Champion and 3-time Match Race Germany winner Peter Gilmour, did not hand him the kindest of days. Andresen can consider himself unlucky in his first race, losing by a margin of only four metres to Robertson.

A second match against Frenchman Pierre-Antoine Morvan also ended unsuccessfully for Andresen after leading for the majority of the race, relinquishing the lead late on in the light air. Reflecting on his day, the German said: “It was a bit like David v Goliath today as we faced some strong opposition, but we felt we performed well and were a bit unlucky, especially in the first match against Phil [Robertson]. We are taking confidence from today and looking forward to converting defeats into wins tomorrow.”